In that physical chemistry class, the prof was an ass and spent the lectures writing full speed on 2 walls of blackboard with his back to us and holding a sheath of paper. Usually he used up all the blackboards so would circle to the front, erase and put fresh writing up. The tests and quizzes were 90+% from the blackboard and the homework from the textbook. Problem was the blackboard material had very little in common with the textbook. Turns out the jerk was writing a text book for publication and using the book draft for the lecture backbone. In summary, no notes then no pass the class and homework was hell.
In physical chemistry and all my engineering classes, a single page cheat sheet was allowed and encouraged for tests. We used it for equations and whatever else each person considered critical. The focus was on doing things correctly not simply demonstrating rote memorization. Besides that, you slip into the twilight zone of thinking in math and symbols instead words. Weird...
I also have a degree in microbiology. Completely the opposite of engineering as it is largely rote memorization. For me, I usually recorded the lectures for playback each evening as it was key to laying out the why of things and definitely the emphasis items that showed up in tests.
Now, while I had to surrender the photographic memory of everything to the dustbin, I did retain a very functional photographic memory of the table of contents so to speak. In this, I have an outline of sorts in the noggin and retrieve details as needed via textbooks, professional and technical publications, companies, peers, professional contacts and such. I don’t feel the need nor do I need to know everything myself. This has been a great advantage in my non-traditional career paths.
I’ve already gone way overboard with thoughts so am going to shamelessly toss this out without going down the rabbit hole. Photographic memory easily leads to a focus on what to think. All too easily, especially for analytical personality persons like me, this can hinder a person in learning how to think.
Now to Amy Barrett, the topic at hand. All of Supreme Court justices sitting now and nominated like Barrett have an immense quantity of legal knowledge crammed in their head. They also rely heavily on exact words written on paper and a staff of clerks to provide detailed info to them to support or refute their initial opinions. She as other nominees before her, has had to do a lot of preparation to prepare for these days of inquisition.
Don’t forget, she was a SCOTUS law clerk for Scalia, so she knows the territory well, from the bottom up.
“In that physical chemistry class, the prof was an ass and spent the lectures writing full speed on 2 walls of blackboard with his back to us and holding a sheath of paper. “.....................Sounds exactly like my Calculus prof. He did the same thing, only he was writing formulae from the CRC and stuff........They do this for fun..............